Chapter 24 #2
Elise still remembered the day her parents had brought Josi home from the hospital, a tiny warm bundle of flushed skin and silken hair. Elise had fallen in love immediately. While holding her, Tobias had placed a gentle kiss on her brow and insisted, You must take care of her.
To Elise that had only meant one thing: You cannot let anything happen to her.
The responsibility had only compounded over the years, the longer Elise spent time away from her.
Tears spilled down her cheeks now, hot and unforgiving as she closed out the song.
Despite having played for the past couple of minutes, Elise could hardly recall the quality of her performance.
All she saw was Josi’s face when she closed her eyes and as the stage lights flashed in her eyes.
The crowd erupted into applause, but Elise only heard her sister tearfully begging her not to leave her alone.
I don’t want to be alone.
When it had come down to Elise to make a choice, she had left her sister alone. The one promise she had made to Josi, she had failed to keep.
Elise skipped the bow and moved right off the stage without thanking her audience. Her teachers back in France would have been appalled by such an exit, but life had a funny way of making things that used to be her whole world inconsequential and minute.
She bumped into a man passing her by. As Elise opened her mouth to apologize, several bottles fell from the box weighing him down.
He cursed and gathered them, grumbling at the cracks that had formed in a few of the bottles Elise noticed a diamond tattoo on the side of his neck, and she called after him, “Hey. Where did you get those?”
The man ignored her and continued on his way out of the club. Elise hurried after him, vaguely aware of Layla catching up to her. “Elise—”
“Karma,” Elise gasped.
The reaper’s grip loosened on Elise’s arm as she spotted the gangster with the vials. She stopped at the door and nodded to the space outside, where Sterling already stood, gun cocked and aimed at the fleeing man. Before he could shoot, the gangster hopped into a readied vehicle and sped away.
The roar of another vehicle started up as it approached.
Elise glanced over and almost let out a joyful laugh.
Jamie sat behind the wheel, his arm beckoning for the three of them to get in.
They wasted no time in pulling themselves inside, and the gangster slammed his foot on the accelerator, veering them down the street after the other men.
“I told you—always be ready with a getaway car,” Jamie called over the rush of wind.
Sterling gritted his teeth against a particularly sharp turn around a street corner. “What exactly is the plan now?”
“WE FOLLOW THEM,” Jamie shouted. “I CAN’T HEAR YOU TOO WELL UP HERE.”
Layla rolled her eyes, and Elise felt something bump against her foot as the car rolled over a pothole.
Looking down, she found bullets scattered across the car floor.
A few guns were even tucked beneath the seat she sat on.
Elise pursed her lips and glanced at Layla, who was watching the two men bicker back and forth in the front seat.
“I have the feeling he’s always wanted to do this.”
“DO WHAT?” Jamie bellowed.
“A car chase!” Elise shouted back.
Sterling groaned. “We are not in a car chase!”
“IF I’M SPEEDING AFTER ONE CAR, WHAT WOULD YOU CALL IT THEN? SMART ASS—”
A round of bullets exploded through the roof of the car.
Layla ducked, instinctively pulling Elise down with her.
The loose bullets on the floor rolled beneath Elise, and she took up a handful of them, then grabbed one of the guns lodged between the seats.
A quick look outside showed her another gang’s car gaining on them from behind.
She turned to Layla as she loaded the gun and gestured to the window. “Hold me.”
“What?” Layla nearly shrieked.
“Hold me so I don’t fall.” Elise barely gave her time to process her words.
She hauled herself off the floor and dragged her body through the open window.
Layla’s arms clamped down on her waist so she didn’t topple over the edge, and Elise used that leverage to balance against the wind current and jarring turns Jamie took.
The gangsters behind the wheel in the following car shouted in alarm.
Their eyes widened, and a few tried to aim for her, but by then Elise was already pulling the trigger.
Her single shot hit the front left wheel of the car, and the tire exploded, taking the driver by surprise.
The car swerved so hard, it careened off the road and into an unlucky department store.
Smoke bloomed from the engine as the store window shattered around the stalled vehicle.
Elise let out a satisfied scoff and allowed Layla to pull her back inside the car.
The reaper looked at her with wide eyes that held equal parts fury and relief. “Don’t ever do something like that again.”
All Elise could do was laugh as Jamie finally brought the vehicle to a steadier speed.
A few blocks later, they approached a Saint training compound.
Her lover’s relief warmed a part of her that had not been touched since their separation.
She had spent so long defending herself and others, yet no one had done the same for her until Layla.
The tender concern in her eyes made Elise want to pull Layla into her arms and stay there until they were forced apart, but Jamie was clearing his throat and Sterling groaning nearby.
She allowed Layla to release her and climbed out of the vehicle to face the building Jamie pointed at.
The men they had followed were long gone now after having fled into the compound.
“It looks like it’s mostly empty right now, but they have guards.
” He gestured to the two strange men standing just outside the door to the Saint training center—or whatever was left of it.
While the building still stood, no more eager and determined men and women entered or exited the building with their shiny new badges and earned honor.
Instead, it remained a tall brick building in the middle of Harlem.
What had once been a factory was converted into a multistory building with various gyms and armories.
Now Elise wondered if they were even used with the intruding gangsters having taken over.
“What is the etiquette for one gang approaching another?” Elise asked.
Sterling whipped his gaze to her. Though his expression remained mostly stoic, Elise noticed the flicker of apprehension in his hazel eyes. “Are you calling us a gang?”
“With Jamie leading us, who’s to say we aren’t one?
” Layla muttered. She nodded to Jamie. “You two go ahead. Elise and I will take up the back in case they feel provoked.” She waited back at the corner with Elise as the two men approached the building across the street.
With them out of earshot, Layla turned her attention to Elise.
“Don’t you find it a little odd how easily your father’s empire fell?
Where there was once an insane man is now the shadow of an empire that was considered great. ”
Elise bit back a bitter laugh. “It wasn’t exactly that easy. There was biological warfare and bad press involved. Bad press can take down anything. Especially if you were believed to be a failure from the beginning.”
Layla considered her words carefully. “Sure, but…I think we should be cautious. What if he’s planning something else, or someone else is planning something through him?”
“Then we’ll stop him before the plans come to fruition,” Elise said strongly.
“So confident.”
“One of us has to be.” Elise moved forward before Layla could respond to her jab.
Across the street, they met Jamie and Sterling at the entrance to the training center, where the two men appeared to be stuck in a heated conversation with the guarding gangsters.
“Do you take me for an idiot? We are not just letting anyone inside our property,” one Italian gangster spat.
Jamie lifted his hands and coughed out a laugh. “Listen. I know you don’t pay rent for this place. It’s a fortress. I understand your frustration, though, because plenty of people call me dumb. But the trick is letting them underestimate you so you can—”
“This is not your property. We have alerted the Saints to your theft, and they will not take kindly to finding you all here when they arrive.” Sterling pulled his coat back to reveal his guns, which had newly engraved crosses on the handles as tribute to his time as a Saint member.
The gangster did not seem impressed. His hand tightened on his gun, and he continued to glare, his dark eyes only filling with more irritation as Elise and Layla arrived.
“That means nothing to me. If you want this place, you will have to take it from us. Judging by your small group, you would certainly die in any type of insurrection.”
Jamie’s easy smile dropped into a frown. “Well, it was never going to come to that, jester.” He gestured to Layla, whose lips had pulled into an annoyed flat line. “This one will destroy you—won’t you, Layla?”
Layla stared at him with a blank expression. “Never for you.”
Elise bit back a groan of frustration. “Sir, please. It’s in your best interest to work with us. You can tell Nicoletta—”
“How do you know her name?” The gangster shoved his gun under Elise’s chin. The metal only grazed her skin before Layla shot between them, baring her fangs and hissing.
“Watch it,” Layla snapped.
Her fury had the man stumbling back in shock, his arm shaking as he tried to point the gun at her. “Demone!” His voice quaked even while he used his native language to insult her.
Layla wrapped her hand around the barrel of the gun and wrenched so hard, his wrist twisted and popped. His fingers released the gun, and he collapsed, still staring up at her with horror-filled eyes.